The Ice We Skate

How parental support can make a world of difference for a trans* youth. Learn more. Retweet. Share on Facebook.

Did you run into the human one or the cartoon one? I feel that both would be very intereting to do coke with, but in very different ways

i just saw the grink lol haha

Unfortunately for safety planners (but fortunately for arson fantasies) not all of the ISS is expected to vaporize in orbit. From NASA's ISS end of life FAQ:

Most station hardware is expected to burn up or vaporize during the intense heating associated with atmospheric re-entry, whereas some denser or heat-resistant components like truss sections are expected to survive re-entry and splash down within an uninhabited region of the ocean.  

What is left of the surviving components will be very hot and could certainly burn down the goat if placed next to it. The trouble here is that this scrap does not have predictable aerodynamic qualities and the atmosphere is a chaotic place. The debris field when the Russian station MIR was deorbited was 1500 km long and 100km wide. The American Skylab missed the target of the Pacific Ocean and dropped debris on Australia as a little whoopsie doodle. So hitting a target the size of the goat would sadly be imposible.

As for missing a target the size of a goat, NASA has concerns:

...a random re-entry cannot ensure that any surviving debris lands in a remote, unpopulated area. The risks to the population associated with an uncontrolled re-entry for space station are not acceptable.

They're still a little twitchy from the media response to that time they dropped debris on Australia I think.

theoretically if we convinced NASA to deorbit the international space station into gavle that would probably light the goat on fire

Wouldn't it burn up in the atmosphere?

What Cis People Say To Trans People Vs. What We Hear

By Meredith Talusan and Rory Midhani

TRANSlator 3000: Amazing technology translates cissexist BS!

“Oh you’re trans but you look so good!” “Trans people are ugly.”

“I’ve never met a trans person before.” “I assume I can identify any trans person.”

“I would date a trans person.” “Trans people are usually undateable so I deserve a prize.” 

“You look just like a real woman.” “Trans women aren’t really women.”

“I’m glad you’re being honest with me about being trans.” “Trans people who don’t tell me they’re trans are deceivers and liars.”

“I loooooove trans people!” “I fetishize trans people.”

“It’s so hard to switch pronouns.” “Trans people are an inconvenience to me.”

“I don’t have a problem with trans people.” “I have a problem with trans people.” 

I’m almost entirely on board for this, but what about Christmas in Prison by John Prine?  Knowing who you live with I don’t think that’s one you can escape (plus it’s an amazing song)

List of Christmas songs that are acceptable in my household:

Fairytale of New York by the Pogues

that’s it.  that’s the only one.

Evangéliaire (Gospels), f. 21v, St. Gallen, Switzerland c. 875-900 via Bibliothèque nationale de France, Public Domain

Stanley Cup Playoff Drinks

Here are some drinks to celebrate the Most Wonderful Time of the Year! Just like the playoffs themselves, playoff drinks have to strike the tricky balance inherent to a winter sport being played in June, like seriously why did we ever let the California teams get good enough to make it into the later rounds it’s like a million degrees what the hell are we doing trying to play scoot and shoot on ice. These are some of my favourites for watching the Cup while in your cups.

The PIMs Cup

By Ethanbentley at en.wikipedia [FAL], via Wikimedia Commons

A playoff version of the classic British summer drink, prepare a fruit cup per your favourite recipe, but serve in a glass with a salted rim. Discretely brush off the salt before drinking, it’s just there to provoke horrified looks. Celebrate bright fruity spring flavours and your favourite heavily-penalized dillhole at the same time

Toast: To a different little shit who has his own towel in the penalty box each time you take a sip. Toasted players should be unique, unless toasting Brad Marchand, who is unique enough on his own. Like a proverbial river, you can’t step in the same Marchie twice

Garnish: A smug look at your friend having a shrieky meltdown that you would celebrate such a classless goon

The Playoff Beard

By Chris huh [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

Mix a sex on the beach or a tangerini or similarly coloured drink and then serve in a scotch tumbler with a single pretentiously-large ice cube.

For some people loving sports means sometimes having to pass as Totally One Of The Guys, Nothing To See Here. This drink gives the option to do that while remaining true to an identity as a smouldering queer dumpster fire. Looks like a manly drink for manly men but tastes like an afternoon cackling at a matinee performance of one of the funny tragedies at Shakespeare in the Park

Toast: The patron saint of smouldering queer dumpster fires in the NHL, Tyson Barrie. Alternatively Tyson Barrie’s dignity, which needs all the help it can get, or the boat his cardiologist gets a little closer to buying every time he hits on a teammate on camera and then isn’t sure if they’re going along with it jokingly or are actually into it

The Flannel Shirt

Mostly I go for fruity drinks to celebrate playoff joy, but sometimes you need a soothing wintry drink for playoff heartbreak. The flannel shirt can be an excellent balm for postseason hard times. Feel free to play around with the spice mixture (allspice in the above recipe, but other mulling spices can also be good) for comforting nostalgia suited to you.

Toast: Those halcyon winter days when you happily doze by the cabin woodstove wearing nothing but Hilary Knight’s cozy flannel shirt. You hear the shoothing rythm of firewood being chopped outside and wait for her to come to come back in, face red from the cold, to cram herself into your chair and unwittingly light up your whole spine with her icy hands on your warm neck. The shirt smells like her and no one has even been mathematically eliminated yet, let alone blown 4-1 leads in the final minutes of game seven, been swept (or reverse swept), or knocked out by the same division rival for the second year in a row. You’re safe.

“Part of text written small. Rubrics, initals in black, red, blue.”, monastery of Augustinian friars, Haarlem, Netherlands ca. 15th century via The New York Public Library, No Known Copyright Restrictions (US)